WICHITA - Coffeyville tried three times. Fort Scott had two chances. Garden City couldn't do it in 2001. None of those teams could find a way to beat Butler in the Region 6 championship game.

Brad Hallier - The Hutchinson News - bhallier@hutchnews.com

Sunday

Nov 16, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 16, 2008 at 5:00 PM

Hutchinson's turn came Sunday at Cessna Stadium. New team, same result.

No. 3 Butler is still the king of Kansas junior college football, and the Grizzlies' 29-14 win against No. 15 Hutchinson not only gave them their eighth straight championship, but it likely puts them in the Top of Mountain Bowl where Butler will battle Snow, Utah for the national championship after top-ranked Navarro, Texas lost Saturday.

But Sunday's win wasn't as comfortable as the final score indicated. Hutchinson - a team that was nearly forgotten five games into the season with a 2-3 record - had a lot going their way, including the scoreboard, which favored the Dragons 14-10 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Then like Hutchinson had done so often late in the season, Butler socked Hutchinson with a strong fourth quarter with 19 points.

"They did a real good job of taking advantage of miscues on our part," HCC coach Rion Rhoades said. "Then they threw downfield a couple times and had a couple nice completions. We just missed some opportunities and didn't play real well late. We needed first downs and stops, and we couldn't get them."

Not in the final 13 minutes any way.

For most of the first three quarters, the Blue Dragons (7-4) matched the Grizzlies in nearly every aspect, getting two turnovers, rarely committing penalties, forcing punts and controlling the clock.

Trailing 10-7 midway through the third quarter, dashed all the way to the Butler 18-yard line.

Three plays later, freshman Chris Clay scored from three yards out, and Hutch had its first lead at 14-10 with 6:34 left in the third quarter.

But when the fourth quarter started, it was all Butler.

"It came down to which team played the hardest," said HCC running back La'Darrian Page, the conference offensive player of the year who had 79 yards rushing and a touchdown. "We had a couple defensive plays we didn't make, but the offense could have scored a couple times, too. There were a couple times we didn't score when we could have, and that hurt us."

Butler (10-1) took the lead for good on Randell Bell's 14-yard touchdown with 12:32 left in the game, and then quarterback Press Taylor took over. Harassed early mainly by a strong Hutchinson defensive line, defensive player of the year Eugene Kinlaw in particular, Butler went with a hurry-up offense that allowed Taylor to find a rhythm and toss two late touchdown passes.

"I think they were doing a good job of mixing it up on defense, so we went no-huddle to control things more," said Taylor, who hit 13 of 21 passes for 196 yards. "Their (defensive) line was dominant early."

Butler's offensive line dominated late, but it took a fluke play to finally seize the momentum.

After Taylor hit Faron Hornes for a 41-yard touchdown pass with 8:15 left in the game for a 22-14 Butler lead, Butler coach Troy Morrell decided not to kickoff deep, and ordered kicker Logan Ortiz to kick the ball short and high.

Instead, Ortiz kicked it into the ground, turning it into an onside kick, which Butler recovered.

"Honestly, we wanted him to sky kick it," Morrell said. "But he miskicked it, and Tyrece Gaines made a great play and recovered it."

It took Butler 77 seconds to score again on Taylor's 29-yard TD pass to Edgard Theliar.

"When they got that, it was a big blow for us," McKinnis said of the recovered kickoff. "That kept momentum on their side."

Hutchinson was never able to establish much offense with 82 yards on 51 plays. One of the nation's top running attacks, Hutch had just 72 rushing yards, and quarterback Bryant Johnson completed 5 of 13 passes for 38 yards.

"It was hit and miss," Rhoades said. "We couldn't get anything consistent when running the football. We weren't able to do that tonight."

The defense was solid through three quarters by allowing 150 yards, but Butler more than doubled that in the fourth quarter with 152 yards in the final 15 minutes.

"I wouldn't say we wore down," defensive back Matthew Pearson said. "We just kind of lost focus a little bit."

The loss was Hutchinson's first since falling Oct. 4 at Butler. Since then, the Blue Dragons won five in a row, going from seventh place to the Region 6 championship game, the best stretch of football for the program since the 1995 team won the Region 6 championship.

"I don't think there's any magical thing to tell them, but I am proud of them," Rhoades said. "They are the most special team I've been around."

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